Posts by Steve Schullo, PhD

When you think about greatness, we default to Micheal Jordan, President Lincoln or Albert Einstein. The Los Angeles Unified School District’s 457(b) plan may not appear to be great but when compared to the typical 403(b) plan, it is most certainly GREAT!

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According to the Tax Foundation, the richest Americans pay almost all of the Federal Income Taxes assessed by the IRS. Is this good news for us ordinary income earners? Well, perhaps not, as it is an indication of a severe decline in the middle class.

Constructing a broadly diversified, low-cost portfolio is straight forward. But human beings continue to struggle to wrap their heads around this idea of the nonmechanical aspect of investing–what’s between our ears. The financial media is of NO HELP what-so-ever! First off, the well-known financial pundits imply that you can beat the averages by constructing an “exciting” portfolio. On the other side of the argument based on Jack Bogle and his author followers including this writer is to construct a “boring” portfolio. A boring portfolio is defined as a broadly diversified plan that performs close to the market averages, not too high (speculative) and not too low (managers making bad choices and charging the investor too much). My portfolio is boring because it neither exceeds or falls below the averages. It’s just right. That’s what I call genuine excitement. This excitement is the reasonable and sane returns I earned this past year. Nothing wrong with my 5.9% return for a conservatively constructed portfolio and the fun I have spending it supporting my values.
I have updated my data to include the 2016 returns of my portfolio. You can see for yourself. The enclosed graph shows an exciting portfolio during the 1990s and a boring portfolio since 2003. My graph will help you answer the question: Do you want to construct an exciting or a boring portfolio?

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What do you do in the wake of a personal devastation? How would you heal from the shock, pain, fear, and anger of a sudden loss? In this blog post, I hope you will find a sense of security, or even inspiration as you walk with me on my path this past year. Sudden misfortune creates strong emotions, and opportunities. Preparing for the death of a loved one overlaps with preparing for a loss after a divorce, a close family member, relationship, or a significant financial loss of any kind through litigation, job loss, or from a stock market crash. Emotional preparation has limitations, but not all is impossible. Know how you might react and plan ahead of time to begin the healing process.
I know what it’s like to lose the love of my life for 40 years. I can confidently say that it was how I reacted to my shocking tragedy that made the difference. When tragedy strikes isn’t it always how we respond over the long term that counts? Will I be bitter and angry forever, or will I grow into a better human being with more compassion and kindness than ever before.

About

Steve Schullo is a retired Los Angeles Unified School District elementary teacher turned 403(b) reform advocate and author of two books. Steve is NOT a licensed finan­cial or invest­ment advi­sor, and the infor­ma­tion and expe­riences shared as a do-it-yourself investor con­tained herein is for infor­ma­tional pur­poses only and does not con­sti­tute finan­cial advice.

Through­out my blog, I share my expe­ri­ences with finances as an ordi­nary con­sumer, not as a pro­fes­sion­al. Do not start, change or mod­ify your port­fo­lio based on the infor­ma­tion in this blog alone. Any ideas, invest­ment strate­gies, links to fee-only pro­fes­sional advis­ers and par­tic­u­lar invest­ment com­pa­nies dis­cussed in any arti­cle or in my blog are a reflec­tion of my expe­ri­ences and should not be con­strued as a rec­om­men­da­tion. Always con­sult with a tax or finan­cial professional.